Every time I finish a workshop, I marvel at the people who are a part of them – thoughtful and kind, as well as excellent photographers in their own right. They all seem to have a thirst to continue to grow and evolve, and to do it with others. We really do learn from each other. In this series, I feature some of these wonderful people on this blog – to show you their work, and allow them to tell their photography story. Today, you’ll hear from Sophia Roberts, who has been a very active participant in The 50mm Project, Going Abstract, and Adventures in Seeing workshops. She will also be a part of the new visual journaling workshop coming up in March. As you will see below, she has a background in writing and is interested in combining writing with her fine art photography.

Meet … Sophia Roberts

©Sophia Roberts

How and when did you get started in photography and what drew you to this medium?

I developed a passion for photography late in life. Whilst I had always been attracted to the visual arts – and to photography in particular – I had never been interested in taking snapshots or in documenting my life. My interest was, and is, fine art photography, which was beyond me until I bought my first digital camera.

Describe your evolution as a photographer. Who are your mentors?

I learnt that photography is the visual art form, for me – and that I should take it seriously – when I took Andrea Scher’s SuperHero Photo on-line course in the summer of 2013. I was attracted by her philosophy that “photography is more than a hobby — it’s a way of seeing & experiencing the world. And it’s not about technical skill, or having the latest lenses & gadgets — it’s about chasing light, capturing delight, and shifting our perspectives — literally and artistically.”

To say it transformed the way I took photographs is an understatement, because it also transformed my life. I had been suffering from crippling depression, but it got me moving again. Further, I was engaging with the world by really seeing it, afresh. I began to take my compact camera everywhere I went.

And then, following the very positive feedback I received on the photos I took whilst in travelling in Poland and Oman, I felt the time had come, in the summer of 2014, to invest in a digital SLR camera.

I considered, after the summer of 2013, that I had all but exhausted the subject of my house and garden. Not a bit of it. I went on to see more and more after discovering Contemplative Photography in 2014; and in particular the work of Patricia Turner. She advises the Contemplative Photographer “to make meaning from what you perceive … at that particular moment.” Accordingly I learnt to stop, to see and hear – to engage – with what was in front of me before pressing the shutter.

I enjoy looking at her work as well as the photographs of Ansel Adams, Verner Bischof, Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, Freeman Patterson, Michael Wood, David DuChemin, and Guy Tal, to name but a few. It helps enormously that there are so many good blogs and web-sites available; otherwise my library shelves would be in serious trouble!

© Sophia Roberts

Why do you photograph and what types of subjects are your favourites?

Increasingly I photograph in order to see. Thereafter I like to express what I have seen, so that I can communicate it. One of my maxims in life is that it’s a waste if you don’t share it. Fortunately the internet makes this very easy to do.

Because I am housebound, with MS, I usually choose to take pictures of what’s available within my home or of what I see when I look out of the window. However, when I look back at my work it’s apparent that I probably enjoying capturing landscape most, wherever I am. I also enjoy taking portraits, because I enjoy engaging with people.

What would you like to explore next with photography?

My next challenge will be to combine words with photographs. I’ve long since been fascinated by the relationship between text and image and this year I intend to explore it. My aim is to use macro photography to consider as many aspects of a subject as I can. Thereafter my focus will probably be metaphor.

I am also very interested in Photo Impressionism and painterly images. I was torn, when younger, between being a poet and an artist. I chose writing, because I wasn’t a good enough draughtsman. Photography should enable me to redress the balance.

Above all I want to do justice to what contemplation is enabling me to really see, whilst learning – over and over again – to say “No”. For, as David DuChemin says, “What the photographer leaves out of the frame is as important as what he leaves in.”

© Sophia Roberts

Where can we find your work online?

I intend this year to set up a blog. My focus will be on “using my poetry and photographs to elevate the ordinary.” In the meantime I have lot of photographs available on Facebook and also on Flickr.

Thank you, Sophia. You’ve been an inspiration to me as well as others in my workshops, for your willingness to really engage the materials, your generosity in commenting and your incredible images.